Israeli Digitization Of Dead Sea Scrolls Halts Potential Return To Jordan (VIDEO, POLL)

Discovered in 1946 in the West Bank, The Dead Sea Scrolls are "among the most important archeological finds of the Modern Era," Al Jazeera reported this morning. Jordan claims the Scrolls were seized illegally by Israel and has long wanted them back. Yet the Israel Antiquities Authority recently embarked on a new project to publish the manuscripts online, making the return of the Scrolls all the more complicated.

"The ownership of the Dead Sea Scrolls is Jordanian by virtue of it was discovered and unearthed from Jordanian territories," said Ziad Al Saad of the Jordanian Antiquities Department. "What has been done by the Israeli authorities is a flagrant violation of the international law."

"The Dead Sea Scrolls are part of our DNA as a culture," said Adolfo Roitman, curator of the Dead Sea Scrolls. "So, it's quite obvious that the issue of ownership has legal and political implications."

The digitization of the Dead Sea Scrolls is "a project viewed by Jordan as an attempt to draw attention away from the ownership issue," Al Jazeera reported.

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